Nepal joins China's Belt and Road Initiative, raising concerns for New Delhi

Beijing:

An important agreement was signed today in Beijing, paving the way for a major breakthrough by China in Nepal. Seven years after an initial agreement that Kathmandu would be part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, today's agreement sets the framework for how the projects will be executed.

Breaking with the tradition of New Delhi being the Nepali Prime Minister's first port of call after the election results, KP Sharma Oli chose to visit Beijing instead. He has been in China since Monday to work closely with Xi Jinping and finalize the deal.

China and Nepal “signed the Belt and Road Cooperation Framework today”, Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in an article on X today, without giving further details .

Sources close to the deal said today's agreement means the two countries will not plan or coordinate the details of each project. It also paves the way for China to finance these projects and clarifies how each project would be financed by Beijing.

The Government of Nepal and the Government of the People's Republic of China signed the Belt and Road Cooperation Framework today. pic.twitter.com/6oTlDvTzIe

MOFA of Nepal (@MofaNepal) December 4, 2024

In 2017, Nepal agreed in principle to be part of China's Belt and Road megaproject, a vast network of roads, transport corridors, airports and rail lines linking China to the rest of Asia. , Europe and beyond. However, no progress has been made over the past seven years due to the lack of an appropriate framework for their execution. Kathmandu has also struggled to find political consensus on the issue. This problem now appears to have been resolved with today's agreement.

China's Belt and Road Initiative, while ambitious, has been a wake-up call for many countries due to Beijing's suspicious activities and ulterior motives. Several countries have fallen into the debt trap, often called China's “debt diplomacy”, in which China builds a megaproject on credit in a country that is smaller in terms of economy, and when the country cannot not repay the loan or interest, Beijing takes over. project for a lifetime or strikes a deal to advance its expansionist agenda.

China's Belt and Road Initiative has also consistently ignored national security concerns and violated the sovereignty of other nations.

Several Nepali government and opposition leaders are concerned about mounting debt problems in an already struggling economy. Even within Prime Minister Oli's government, a fierce debate rages over the potential risks associated with China's megaprojects. The Nepali Congress, which is a key ally of Prime Minister Oli's party, has vehemently opposed any projects financed by Chinese loans.

China financed the airport project in Pokhra, Nepal's second largest city, by lending more than $200 million. Nepal continued with the project despite serious concerns from India and opened the airport last year.

But the airport faced losses due to the lack of international flights. This may be due in part to low demand for airlines, but also to India's refusal to allow planes to use its airspace for this purpose.

Pokhra, located approximately 120 kilometers from Kathmandu, is less than 20 minutes from the Indian border by commercial flight. India had to close its airspace on national security grounds because Kathmandu ignored New Delhi's concerns that China could use the airport to park its military planes and helicopters – a massive threat to India's national security. New Delhi.

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